Future's untold History
by Cyrus W. Koldstone
Summary: What is the truth of before MMZ? This is my take on what happens for after MMZ2 and beyond. Chapter 3 now up; fight scene btwn Zero and Hydra. Please Read&Review!
1. INTRO: On a night just like this

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Note to the Reader:

This fic is my interpretation of events after Mega Man Zero 3 and those of Mega Man X: Command Mission

Please don't be an ass and flame it because a lot of the ideas in here aren't what you would call the nicest.

Just please read the story and enjoy it for what it is.

Thanx

Mega Man series are a trademark of Capcom Int.

All other characters are property of Chris W. Keller and I will throw spam at you if you steal them! _ !

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_-=HISTORY=-_

Zero slowly walked towards his old friend; saber held at the ready and finger pressed against the ignition switch if need be. It had come out of no where and bee lined straight for him....

"X...? Are you OK?"

The leader of the 17th unit slowly relaxed his fingers from their tight gripe around his skull, falling limply to the sides of his body as if no life existed in them anymore. It was an eerie air that floated about the room, this was a tense time after what had just happened. Turning his head down to the ground, X raised his right hand and felt his fist slowly open and close, as if witnessing it for the first time.

"It's amazing isn't it Zero.... the things you and your kind take for granted...."

The crimson plated hunter instinctively wrapped his other hand around the sturdy hilt of his ion blade saber. _This is wrong, _he thought to himself; that trained sense of danger within him slowly rising within the back of his mind.

"The sensation of touch for example. Never before had I been able to feel the textures of these fingers... the roughness of his hand and the coarseness of the grain in the gloves he uses. So many things you all take for granted...." 

Zero could hear the whine X's internal energy combine begin to build. A soft white glow began to radiate from around X's armor; but there was something odd about it.... something not right.

"X? What are you doing...? You don't have any reason to charge your buster. There aren't any enemies here to fight."

The azure fighter clenched both of his fists into tight balls of strength; the servos in his hands straining under this new pressure but adapting to it all the same. "So many things my dear crimson fighter... So many things you just never understood how precious they really were..." X reclined his head back and looked up to the shattered skylight of the laboratory; the night's rain dripping down onto his face through the breaks in the glass. "It always starts on a day like this does it not...."

With a sharp hum Zero's mk.II saber roared to life, drawn at the ready acting as a barrier between the red hunter and this blue uncertain adversary. "Don't make me do this X.... Don't make me fight you."

The hundred year old warrior closed his eyes; images of the numerous foes he'd fought flashing beneath those emerald orbs of his. "Can you hear it Zero... Can you hear that sound?"

His lips slowly curled back to a sinister childlike smile.

"Can you hear the wind chime of oblivion...."

With that X raised his arm cannon and took aim at his old friend.

"Farewell dear dear Zero.... You will only be a weed in the garden I intend to create...."


	2. CHP 01: A Mega Man called Zero

**-=_CHAPTER ONE – MEGA MAN ZERO_=-**

"DIE YOU IMPUDENT LITTLE WHELP!" With a howling snarl, the gargantuan reploid raked his mighty clawed hand across the ground. The battle had gone on long enough in his mind; in the past ten minutes since he had entered his fortress, this blond haired pest had done nothing short of undermine and destroy all of his precious work that had taken weeks to arrange and bring together. It was time for the small to one pay for his insolence with blood!

Unfortunately that just wasn't gonna happen. 

Nimbly back flipping over the mammoth sized wolf's attack with ease and grace, the crimson helmeted hero let out a backward spinning slash, deflecting away the sparked debris careening towards him from the wolf's anger driven rage educed attack. _This isn't even a fair fight... Just an ego driven, overgrown reploid who thinks because he's bigger then most can do whatever he wants..._

It had been only under a half hour ago that the mission had been presented to him. A rogue Neo Arcadian general under the name of **_Snapgraw Wolf_ **had seized control of one of the OmniCity's weapon depots and was making the usual foolhardy and arrogant demands: turn over the city to him or else destruction and calamity would befall all who defied him. It was a speech the sapphire eyed battler had heard all too many times in his life. Agreeing to accept the mission, he had set off to the floating fortress of the Arcadian depot. Utilizing the upgraded Zet-Sabers given to him by the resistance's head scientist Ceraveau, the determined protector of peace waged a one man war against hundreds of lethal attack drones. Leaving nothing but a carved path of destruction and smoldering debris in his wake, he pushed further and closer to the center of the depot to where his true goal lay in wait. 

Landing with the grace of a tiger, the warrior rocketed forward on the speed of his one-of-a-kind DASH Boots; when the second mighty mitt of the tall wolf had crashed into the floor, all that remained was the cloud of dust and spinning flame from his speedy wake. "ARGH!!!! STAND STILL!!!" Leaping over the oncoming follow up whiplash of the wolf's mighty tail, another series of spinning cyan hued saber slashes graced the backside of the slow and stupid "General." 

"That's for calling me a whelp..." This battle had angered him from the moment he'd been briefed. It wasn't so much this overgrown oaf had taken it upon himself to endanger the lives of everyone who lived in Neo Arcadia, the Resistance Plateau, and all the neighboring satellite cities; but that he had viciously slaughtered everyone who had been unfortunate enough to be on duty inside the depot when it was attacked. 

With this fighter, killing the innocent was a line you just did not cross. 

Reaching onto his magnetic belt holster, the blond warrior snapped together his twin Zet-Sabers _Heaven_ and _Hell_. With a connective "click", the two weapons seamlessly merged into a silvery meter long hilt. Bringing the joined weapon down to his side, he twisted his palms over the gripped sections. _I really don't like people who think they're better then others!_ With a sparkling crackle and his, two shimmering elongated swords of pure clear blue energen sprang forth from the opposite tips of the gripped weapon. 

_All connections confirmed and go! Double Side Blade **Retribution** activated._

A new burning drive within his soul, the red warrior leaped high into the air with the blade poised above his head. Gritting his teeth as he spun the three meter long weapon above his frame, he fell back to the ground with the precision tuned focusers of the new weapon repeatedly cutting and slashing through Snapgraw's thick hide. As he landed poised once more on the hard and unforgiving ground of the smashed war room, he could feel the streams of Recirculator fluid spewing forth from the opened wounds and cascading over his shoulders and back. Kicking off of the ground, the hero preformed another nimble back flip and deftly dodged a twin would-be crushing blow from the wolf's mammoth hands. 

Landing on the far side of the battle wrecked room, the warrior spun the shimmering blade and then lowered himself into a crouching stance with the blade rested behind his back. "Next move... you die...."

Snapgraw coughed up a thick pool of recirculator fluid and struggled to control the pitch of his voice box within his throat. "i... will... **kill... YOU!!!**"

Howling in rage and anger, the giant alaskian reploid slammed his fists into the floor, digging his claws into the ground and straighting out his back. With a feral growl and a flaming red glare in his eyes, Snapgraw's chest began to shake and glow as he changed up his final all or nothing attack. Letting out a deep sigh to calm his body and closing his eyes, the hero brought the _Retribution_ out in front of him and prepared himself to end this pointless fight.

"No one has succeeded yet... I doubt you will be the first!" With a quick flash of ionized air from his boots, the warrior rocketed forward once more, his eyes open and glowing with the flame of justice for all those who had died at the hands of this fiend. 

_Danger! Danger! Detection of highly compressed hydrogen atoms forming inside of target. Suggest immediate evasive maneuvers! _

_Sorry Navi, the time of safety and subtlety is over. I'm going to end this fight here and now!_ Bringing the double sided sword out in front of him, the warrior bent down lower and put even more energy into the force of his DASH greaves. 

"**DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!**" Opening his gaping maw of teeth and fangs, a clear blue and volatile ball of energy quickly formed, growing larger and larger as each second passed. With a hiss and snarl, the wounded sky blue and white wolf snapped his jaw shut, forcing the ball of energy into a mammoth stream of raw destructive power focused right at his would be slayer. Crossing his legs over each other, the fighter's body whipped into a tight spiral spin as he flew toward the energized ball of hydrogen and free floating ions. With a stern look and eyes roaring with fire and justice, he stared straight into the eyes of Snapgraw and saw staring back at him not the menacing face of a tyrant, but that of a scared little weakling who realized the time of his death was at hand.

"Give my regards to Lucifer!" Activating the Fire Chip within his gauntlets, the twin blades erupted in a blaze of flame and heat, transforming him into a whirling drill of destruction. As the two forces met, the so called _LUNAR BEAM_ was easily deflected away, cutting a clear path into the crest of Snapgraw's chest where his hydrogen compressor lay. With nothing more then a garbled curse to his soul escaping from the wolf's "blood" soaked lips, the twin twirling fiery blades of the _Retribution_ tore into the core of his hydrogen compressor and main fusion reactor. As the two volatile forces met, time seemed to slow for the brave hero. Within that slowed moment of existence, a voice from the recesses of his mind broke through to the chaos of the world and made itself known:

"_... if... if I become a Maverick, you have to take care of me... Promise me... "_

The warrior's hardened eyes widened in shock, but then softened in somber acknowledgment as he remembered where he had heard that phrase so long ago.

_X..._

Concussion waves from the torrent blast of spinning fire and plasma tore through the building. Streaming outward through every open vent and port, the floating fortress seemed to shake from the cataclysmic end of the fight. A spinning typhoon of flame and heat reached up into the upper levels of the battle room; shattering and melting away the fragile skylight above, releasing the last remnants of the battle to the skies above. As the room lay engulfed in flames and charred beyond all recognition, one lone figure remained standing in the middle of it all. Deactivating the cyan blades of the _Retribution_, the warrior unclipped the _Heaven _and _Hell _and tucked them back into their holsters at his side. 

Some would say a hundred years ago that he died bringing about the end to some great war... even in the recesses of his mind he couldn't remember, it was a part of his past that had still yet to return to him... As his hands hung loosely at his side, he scanned over the remains of the scorched battlefield; his opponent's carcase no where to be seen, engulfed and atomized in the containment failure of his own energy core. _A stupid fool.... a stupid Maverick... Will it never be over...? _Emerging from the shadows of the fight, a small glowing energy pixie floated near to the warrior and sat on his shoulder. 

_Mission Complete. All threats Neutralized. Analyzing available data from Snapgraw Wolf..... New Technique synthesized: **Defense Shield EX Beam Reflection**. With this you should be able to push back highly compressed energy attacks with ease using the Defense Shield modification of your plasma discs....? _The small Cyber ELF on his shoulder stood up and looked at her "legendary" partner. The crimson vested champion reached behind his head and unclipped the fastener of his notorious "devil horned" helmet as Ciel would call it; slowly taking it off of his head and letting his matted down long blond hair bask in the warm rays of sunlight cascading down from the shattered skylight above. _Are you ok Zero...? _

Letting his head drop back down, he looked to his personal assistant and spotter who stood there on his shoulder looking back at him. Ciel had given "her" to him as a good luck charm on his last mission to find new a new energen vein located in the deepest layers of New Africa a couple months ago. Since then, the two had always looked out for each other: Navi would stay back and give him tips on his foe and he would use that to help win the fight. 

"Yeah, I'm fine... I was just wondering how many more chances I'll get to look at those azure skies..." Shaking his head of the random thoughts plaguing him, Zero tapped the crystal on his helmet and teleported it into his virtual storage space. "Let's go home." 


	3. CHP 02: A fallen Hero finds purpose

_**-=CHAPTER TWO – A MAN CALLED HYDRA=-**_

The city of Neo Arcadia. 

Built in 2284 near the climactic end of the ELF Wars, it has stood as the leading capitol of the world's unified alliances and a protector its peoples and beliefs. 

But that wasn't always the case.

Over eight years ago, there was a singular man who had taken it upon himself to accomplish what none before him had been able to do: To once and for all cure the plague of the Maverick Epidemic that had continually swept over and over throughout the world and driven harmless Reploids insane. 

His cure for this? To impart upon all reploids a form of digital conditioning that had been placed upon the cyber electronic life form, the ELF as it was called, at the end of the brutally year long war. Should any reploid dare to stand up or strike out in a violent manner towards a human or society, a safeguard protocol within its neural processors would cause an EMP feedback loop and sterilize all of its memory banks. In essence, it was an accepted form of the ERASURE technique used during the late twenty-second century by rogue reploid hunters: a Reploid would have its "soul" removed from existence, becoming a literal clean state of nothing more then wires and hardware. 

An empty shell devoid of all life. A painless death as it was thought to be... To descend into oblivion without a heaven nor a hell...

Needless to say many reploids wouldn't agree to this. They believed it was an abomination of rational thought to give unto a race of people the to choose who would live and die based on whether or not their expressed ideals conformed with that of society. Surely this individual, this acclaimed thinker of rational thought, was joking at his boast of a cure for such a deadly plague. 

Yet, _this_ man was different from the man many had thought him once to be. 

In the minds of the public, he was the champion of Reploids rights and equality; had fought numerous battles to preserve the ability for all races to live free and equally upon this earth. Trampling through the numerous battlefields of infernal hordes all for the ideal of peace and tranquility. 

But now though things were different. 

_He_ was different.

As a decree for all those that dared to defy his order as ruling governor and magistrate over Neo Arcadia, he sent out his waves of cybernetic drone soldiers and exterminating giant golems to hunt down and eradicate all that wouldn't obey his word and law. It didn't matter how hard they had tried to stand up to him, this man who commanded such power would use his legions of armies of strike them down. It was he who was in control of the world now, not them. It was he that had saved them on countless occasions from the point of near destruction and oblivion! Was it not fair that they should follow in his order and word? Was it not just that he who had saved them so many times; who had seen battle and faces of evil more terrifying then anyone else on the planet could attest to? Should it not be that he was the one who could see the true ordering path of the world.

Soon the point had been reached when all could be taken from this figure... no matter who he had been at one time or what reputation he had held. 

The Maverick Hunters themselves, or rather what remained of the prestigious group that had survived the war, had been called upon to dethrone the mad despot. Seeing this as an act of unprecedented defiance, the likes of which none before occurred, had stricken as the final act in his mind that could not be overlooked or ignored. Taking it upon himself alone to rectify; the leader of Neo Arcadia left his impenetrable defenses and regaled throne of his all seeing arcadian citadel. In his wake he commanded all the world to watch as a lesson to be learned for those who disobeyed his law.

Brandishing the awesome full power of his proclaimed "Seraphim" Armor, he continued his march of nonexistence toward the Hunter base. Dark Plasma Fire; Energen Buster Shells; even that of old fashioned machine gun bullets and metal swords; nothing would stop him on his appointed mission. 

Unleashing the accumulated rage inside of him, he lay a path of waste and carnage worse then that brought on by the fiend Dark Stryker during the war. Within a few brief moments of his attack, all was finished. The Maverick Hunters were no more and from his view nothing of importance remained to stand in his way of leading the world as he pleased. It was in that instant that an ideal had been accomplished that none before him had been able to perform:

The complete and utter annihilation of the Maverick Hunters in there entirety at the hand of their once great leader and supporter.

Mega Man X.

Shock and horror swept the world as it became know that X, the hero of the Maverick Wars and the ELF Wars, a proclaimer of peace and pacifism; had killed thousands in cold blood without even an inch of remorse or sadness. Declaring that this rogue _Maverick Hunter_ was a threat to the fragile planet's stability and peace, the reigning Global Defense Council ordered the immediate termination and destruction of the once savior of humanity. 

Not seeing the need to further dirty his own hands with more human and reploid blood, _Master X _commanded his four generals to "dispose" of the pathetic weaklings.

**Harupa**: a master of aerial combat and stratagem without equal; crippled the GDC airborne HQ's flotation engines and anti-air turrets with grace and ease. This lead the way for his other team mates to approach unharmed and continue as their master had ordered. **Fefnir**: a hotshot dynamo with an expertise in explosives and gun play; he had taken it upon himself to dispose of the mechanized defenses of the base and cripple any means that the human soldiers had of escaping the falling death trap. **Leviathan**: a sapphire haired vixen who commanded the sea and ice; wrapped the ocean bound base inside a watery tomb of frigid ice and cold, sealing its now terrified inhabitants off from the outside world and readying them for the end. 

Lastly there was **Phantom**: the undisputed leader of the four, second-in-command to Master X himself, a genius/trained in all of the ancient fighting arts, and far more deadly then all of his subordinates combined. Having been personally taught under both of the legendary fighters X and Zero before the ELF Wars, he alone entered into the belly of the crippled "guardian" fortress. After brief moments through a series of unending death rattles and screams of soldiers, reploids, and political heads as their lives were brought to an abrupt end, Phantom emerged from the fortress. Only silence now remained within that tomb of _Justice _and _Order_. With Fefnir lacing a loaded Plasma-Ion bomb into the opening of the encased ship, the four generals left Atlantic airspace and the shimmering ice glacier on the sea. In a final fiery blast, the icy shell of the _Forseti_ Global Defense Council's fortress exploded and sank to the uncharted depths of the sea. 

It was with this final act that the sun had set on the envisioned golden age of Neo Arcadia. From a city holding over one million residents and expected to bring order and stability to a world crippled through war and destruction, there would now only be persecution and villainy to reign once more.

Five years would pass...

Five long years in which the tyrannical grip of Master X would continue to grow and dominate over the world with nothing to stay or sway his wrath for any who would oppose him. 

But then at the end of those five long years, a hero emerged to bring light to a darkened land...

"Zero..." 

He said the name with a disdain and foulness about his tongue as he continued to walk through the unending Sahara Desert. It had been three years since that pony tailed menace had appeared from the void of history and fight back against his order and stability; to right wrongs and topple mad dictators such as _himself_. 

"ZERO!!!" 

Screaming the name with unparalleled hatred for his sworn enemy, the once tyrant now known as **Hydra**** X** threw back his head and arms; letting the pure unchecked energy of his soul consume and surround him. It was true that in the hundred years since the fall of the Maverick age, Reploids had become more advanced and more human like, adopting a more indistinguishable appearance between their organic and flesh counterparts. 

But even still Hydra was more then that... far far more...

Buckling from the internal strain of his own awesome energy, the warrior fell to the warm and comforting grainy texture of the sands beneath him. It was far worse this time; he had let his emotions consume him to the point where his energy was unchecked and wilder than it had ever been before. As the arks of purplish waves rippled away from his body, pockets of glass bubbled and hardened where they touched the desert's ground. 

"_You still can't control your own rage and hatred towards Zero and his kind. That is what was your downfall twice before and here it is your weakness now."_

Looking up from his pained fetal crouch in the sand, Hydra's eyes burned with anger as he starred into the flickering image of a violet haired woman standing before him.

"Shut up! You know nothing but what I tell you, do you understand!?"

The amused look vanished from her face at the comment, replaced only with a stern look of annoyance at the crumpled man lying at her feet. Crouching down to look into those ruby eyes that would defy her with arrogance and self-importance, she brushed a strand of her long purple hair aside and reached out to run her hand along his tired face. Such grace in her moments, so warm and gentle when she wanted to be; but he knew what this meant....

Running her hand through his tattered and unkempt waves of brown hair, the golden eyed vixen tightened her grip and pulled his head back; taking singular glee in the expression of continual pain arching across his face.

"_Do you not realize that I keep you around solely for my amusement?! If I had wanted I could sterilize this battered shell of yours as I have have done to your predecessor before you and take it for my own! The **only** reason I haven't yet is that you have unique traits that I cannot find else where on this rock of a world."_

Even in the state of his continually pain enraptured body, Hydra found the strength to let a weak but audible laugh escape his parched lips. 

"Is... is that right? I thought you kept me around for my charming good looks and whimsical demeanor; not for the fact that without me you'd be hunted down and captured like before..." Fighting the pain gripping his body, Hydra brought himself to his knees and crouched eye to eye with this demoness before him. "You need me just as much as I need you, and don't **you** ever forget that, understand?" Cringing in pain once more, Hydra collapsed back on his side as streaming arks of volatile purple energy continued to criss-cross over his body. "Just do what you do best and get me through this my dear succubus." 

Anger crossed her face at the mentioning of that "_pet" _name he had given her. "_You are not my lover dear Hydra... and I am not your slave..."_ Becoming more mirage then reality, the woman phased into Hydra's body, using her powers to help repair his dying systems and abilities. Slowly time passed for him, all he had to sustain him as she healed his worn body was the thought of revenge upon that who had done this to him.

"I will find you... and I will kill you..."


	4. CHP 03: Return of a Menace

_**-=CHAPTER THREE – OLD RIVALRIES NEVER DIE=-**_

The duo continued their trek back to the Resistance Base along the Eurasian Plateau. Even though it had been offered to him, Zero had declined on the offer for an Arcadian transport ship to return him all the way to the resistance base; too many people in the higher ups of the government still wanted the Resistance destroyed even if it had saved their bureaucratic asses more times then they had hairs on their collective heads. It was also the idea that he needed to see the world that he was fighting to protect. Even in this tattered day and age when technology has lost some of its reigning grip on life from when he was a Maverick Hunter, people still rarely stopped to just stare out the window and look at the world around them. 

_Are you OK Zero? You still haven't said much since we collected the bounty on Snapgraw and left NACO._ The blonde haired fighter looked to his floating companion. She was right, even after leaving the Neo Arcadian Central Office after returning from a job well done in securing the depot and collecting a severance fee on defeating Snapgraw Wolf, he had remained quiet and thoughtful the entire ride back to the outskirts of the plateau. When Ciel had created Navi to act as his assistant and helper, she had put some of her own brainwave algorithms into her neural processing subroutines, so it wasn't that uncommon for the little blue and white pixie to worry about her owner and partner. Stopping for a second to look off and survey the plateau, his unrestrained hair billowing in the warm winds of the plain, Zero let a small sigh escape his lips.

"It's nothing to worry about Navi. I was just remembering something a friend once told me from long ago. Come on. It's only a little farther until we're back at the base and can take a well deserved rest." Navi just floated there for a few seconds as Zero resumed his pace again. She'd quickly come to learn that whenever the red vested hero said "from long ago", he was talking about the time before the ELF Wars and before he had been found and revived by Ciel. Many at the Resistance Base had respect for Zero and knew not to pressure him about what it was like before he had died or to even bring up the subject at all. You don't question the world's greatest fighter about what it was like to die and then come back in a world shattered from the one you once knew.

"Looks like we're almost there..." Off in the distance Zero could make out the heart of the Eurasia Plateau; the famous crash site where over a hundred and fifty years ago an orbital space colony had been dropped onto the planet by the insane reploid tyrant Sigma and his Maverick Forces. The bulk of the frame from the colony had remained intact even to this day despite all the wear and tear it had on it. According to Ciel, when the charter for the new Reploid Resistance Base had been drawn up in Zero's year long absence, over half of the chosen comity had selected this spot as a perfect place to build their new home. The plateau offered plenty of building space and was easily defendable as the ability for a surprise attack was almost non-existent. 

Also it was here that Ciel said she had first found Zero's body; torn and battered beyond recognition. She never said how she knew to look for him here of all places, or even why he would be here; only Zero himself would be able to answer that question, and even he didn't know the truth.

"Gah..." Zero rubbed the center of his chest right above his heart. Whenever he saw the crash site from this vantage point, it always made an old pain resurface in his mind; even though now there wasn't anything there to cause him discomfort. It was as though while he desperately tried to remember his past, another part of him didn't want to for the memories were either too painful or extreme. Turning his head he looked at the floating pixie, who of course had that same look of concern and worry on her face as before. "I told you Navi I'm fine, its nothing, just bad memories." The hero closed his eyes and smiled for the floating little cyber ELF. 

_Something's wrong!_

The look of placidness and ease vanished from his face. With a look of anticipation and fear in his eyes, Zero drew the _Heaven_ and _Hell_ from their holsters on his legs. Calling his helmet out of its virtual storage, the tensed red titan ignited both of the weapons, holding the two cyan colored energen blades out in front of him. As the Devil-Horned Helmet materialized on his head and its jeweled visor across his brow, the black suited fighter let nothing escape his glare.

_Zero?! What is it!? What's wrong???_ He wouldn't say anything, his eyes quickly scanning over the desert aridness of the plateau. Navi could tell something was wrong, his body was poised to move at the slightest provocation. It was just like back in the weapons depot with Snapgraw, but even now it seemed worse, as though he was facing a far worse enemy then that mammoth wolf.

"Quick! Scan the area! Anything; tell me if anything is out there!" Nodding in acknowledgment, Navi's body became encased in a swirling cage of screens and see-through panels, each one an extension of her abilities and skills. Closing her eyes, she searched the vastness of the desert sands, trying to find this _thing_ that had spooked Zero so terribly.

_I'm not getting anything Zero... DUCK!_ Listening without thinking, Zero tumbled to his side just as a screaming bolt of condensed ionized energy went whizzing past where his head would have been. As he rolled, the skilled fighter let the _Hell_ slip from his hand and back into its magnetized holster. Sorting through his internal Virtual Weapon Matrix, Zero summoned his Zet-Buster _Megatron_ out of storage and into his waiting hand. Feeling the weight of the modified hand blaster in his palm, he took only a second to aim before letting loose a barrage of yellow hued plasma shells back to where the shot had come from. Colliding against an unseen mirage of energy and bent light, the Reploid attacker let out a curse and yelp as his stealth field collapsed making him visible to the naked eye.

"Got you..." Seeing the distance to be too far for the energen chain abilities of the _Heaven _to reach, Zero let it also go back into his holster and bawled up his fist at his side. Along the outer edge of his forearm, the Defense Shield _Freedom _came online with its calm cyan hue offering a protective glow. Tightening his fist further, the shield's smooth edges retracted into its secondary attack Plasma Disc form, the _Conformer_, and began its whirling death spin. Zero's assailant, seeing that he had but moments left to live, decided that rather than try to run or plead for his life he would rather go down in a blaze of glory. Tossing his high powered sniper rifle to the wayside, the mercenary brought up a pair of old .45 caliber Buster pistols and began a running death march at the steele-eyed warrior.

With no more then a scoff at his assailant, Zero whipped the ferociously spinning _Conformer_ outward at his attacker. As the barrage of plasma aimed for Zero collided with the spinning disc, its energy reflective field ricocheted the shots harmlessly away from their target. Hearing nothing more then the death toll of the spinning blade through the unending flurry of plasma bullets, the mercenary's upper chest was neatly cleaved in two on the razor tuned edges of the weapon. Flipping over itself in the air, the disc quickly flew back and returned to the outstretched arm of its user. As the chaotic blade ceased its spin and returned to the "docile" form of the _Freedom_, Zero noticed the emblazoned red and white X on the helmet and chest of the mercenary just before their internal fusion reactor went critical and vaporized its body in a flash of wild plasma and fire.

_The crest for the Cult of Master X_... _Foolish imbeciles who believe that he was the true savior of humanity and reploid kind... That copy is a disgrace to the honor and prestige of X's real name and legacy._

_Zero wait... something's not right..._ The warrior's sense of comfort vanished again. 

"What is it Navi? What's out there?" The little pixie's screens whirled around her with tremendous speed as she feverishly tried to hone in on the target she could feel but not see. 

_Something... or someone, I can't tell! It's like they're there and not there at the same time. Zero be careful!_ Closing his eyes, Zero activated his FORM subroutines. 

**F**unctional **O**perations **R**elayed **M**obility; it was an ability upgrade given to Zero by Ceraveau a year ago when he was trying to stop Elpizo from unleashing the Dark ELF. By sacrificing certain latent skills, like constitution or techniques, it allowed Zero to improve on others, such as speed or strength, in essence a very versatile weapon for aiding him in the heat of battle. A slight wave of energy overtook Zero, changing his normal crimson red armor and helmet to that of an orange and bronze. 

Feeling the effects of his **ACTIVE** FORM starting to come online, Zero sent the _Megatron _Zet-Buster back into its virtual storage space and whipped the _Hell _Zet-Saber out of its holster. Twisting the silver hilt in his hand, the gripped shaft of the weapon doubled in length and the normal triangular shaped energen focuser at the end split into a trident shaped tip. Wrapping both hands around the new shape of the weapon, an emerald hued buster sword shot forth from the pronged tip; changing the normally thin and razor tipped point of the _Fury_ Saber into the new _Climhazzard _Broadsword. Another new enhancement given to him by Ceraveau, it gave Zero a much greater striking zone and raw power then the _Fury_ could, but sacrificed itself in speed; hence the shift to the faster and more nimble active form.

The Orange hued hero felt a slight drip of clear coolant fluid slide down his face. _Why am I so tense all of a sudden? I just eliminated an assassin sent by Copy X's fanatics without any problem what so ever; so why am I like this? _Bringing the broadsword out in front of him in an acceptive and ready stance, Zero let his eyes scan over the plain once more. _This is nonsense, there is no reason for me to be this uptight over one villain!_ Zero gritted his teeth in anger at the notion of how involved he was letting this supposed fight get to him. In his mind, a warrior must never let themselves feel remorse or joy in what they do, only the mission and the objectives of it are important. 

_I can't see it Zero! If we go now we can get to the base and use its higher class weaponry and scanners to defeat whatever's out here!_

"Sorry Navi, I can't do that. If I can't defeat this foe, then it could endanger the lives of the entire base. You go back to the base, I'll cover you and keep it at bay. Tell Ciel to set the EM Field disruptors to max and in a wide spread pattern." Navi hovered there for a second unsure of what to do. Zero turned his head, the look of anger and annoyance in his eyes. "GO!" A bit scared by the volume of his voice, Navi took off heading straight for the base as fast as her little wings could take her. _Good girl... Now I can fight without hesitation..._

"**Letting the little ones go so you can be the big brave hero and save the day. How revoltingly touching!**" Zero's eyes widened in shock to the unseen voice in the air; then subconsciously gritted his teeth in further anger and rage.

"Hydra..." The name rolled off his tongue as though it were acid and venom as a cruel laugh filled the dry desert air. 

"I'm so touched you remembered my name after our year apart... come, come now Zero did you ever really think you could kill me? I'm three times more powerful than as X ever was and five times greater then you ever will be. I have touched the powers of the Dark ELF you fool! I have transcended the limits of a mere reploid and gone further... further then X... and now further then you!" 

Body still tensed, Zero notices out of the corner of his eye a vibration in the air. _A stealth barrier!_ Turning the blade over in his hands, the orange vested fighter roars forward on the speed of his DASH boots. Without time to move or evade, Zero plunges the shimmering emerald blade deep into the vibrating mirage, a sick metallic scraping and loud scream of pain fill the air. As the elusive stealth field drops, annoyance fills Zero's mind as before him attached to his blade is nothing more then another assassin sent by the cultists to kill him. 

Rotating his hand, the emerald blade neatly cuts upward through the sternum of the foe, damaging their reactor core and exploding in fire and flame. Amidst the flurry of heat and debris, a jet black hands shoots through the cumulus fire and grabs the orange fighter by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Extinguishing the flames with a wisp of his billowing cloak, Hydra tightened his grip around Zero's throat; those pair of glowing ruby red eyes staring maliciously back into Zero's own subconsciously tearing sapphire ones. With one hand clutching Hydra's arm for balance, Zero altered the _Climhazzard _back into the _Fury_ saber and swung it viciously at the smiling fiend's head, only to have it suddenly blocked by a shimmering translucent shield of violet energen. 

"I see you survived the space station's reactor explosion," Zero choked out through his tired lungs. "Guess next time I'll have to make sure I finish the job myself then leave it up to a mere nuclear cataclysm..." 

"Yes... never leave to the forces of order and nature to accomplish what should be done with your own bare hands!" the smile dissapeared from his face and his continued tightening his stranglehold on the helpless warrior. _Only a few more seconds and it will all be over my dear dear friend...._

A small grin crossed the dangling fighter's lips as his eyes tried to roll back in his head from lack of oxygen. Closing his eyes once more, Zero adjusted the settings for his FORM function: changing from a light orange to that of a darkened midnight blue. 

"Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?" Placing both of his feet onto Hydra's chest, Zero fired his DASH Boosters. Instead of a simple small burst of propulsion as they normally would produce, in this new **DASH** FORM Zero's boots exploded with tremendous force and concussion against Hydra's dense armor; ripping the two rivals off of each other. 

Spinning through the air, the dark azure colored warrior drove the _Fury _into the earth, bringing him to a grinding halt against the broken ground. Not wasting any time, the hurt fighter pulled the _Heaven_ out of its holster and activated its energen chain function, _Rapture._ Whipping the hilt of the Zet-Saber forward toward the staggering Hydra, the shimmering sky blue links of the _Rapture_ encircled around the dazed titan's neck. Caught off guard by the suddenness of the attack, Hydra only had a second to look into Zero's glinting eyes and see the smirk across his face.

"My turn!" With a sharp jerk, Zero activated the Thunder Chip inside his gauntlet; sending an arcing volley of deadly electricity straight into the stunend tyrant's body. 

_You can't beat him Hydra; I still haven't been able to fully restore you! Retreat for now and we'll come back and finish the job!_

"_Damn that wench..." _Screaming in anger and pain, the dark crimson and blue armored tyrant pulled out his own energen blade and cut through the life stealing cable wrapped around his neck. 

"Don't think this is over... Not by a long shot!" Turning his head toward the Resistance Base in the distance, Hydra X let a small laugh escape his lips as a crushing volley of Plasma Cannon fire enveloped the area he was in. Still crouched there on the dry and broken ground of the desert, Zero brushed his mouth with his hand. Wincing from the pain, he removed his hand and noticed a small trickle of recirculating "blood" had been running down the side of his mouth. Looking back to the smoldering crater only a few meters from him, there was no trace of Hydra or his armor on the ground.

"I never thought it was..."


End file.
